Connecting

Thank you all for your comments and emails in response to my last post: they were scary, and I have spent most of this week in an existential fug, convinced that the end of the world is nigh. I am still convinced of that, or at least that some awful environmental disaster is looming unless we change our ways, but I just read a quote on Elizabeth Gilbert's site that made me feel much better - I adored Eat Pray Love, and I love what she says here:

The first question you can begin to ask yourself, though, is: “Where can I find a small corner of stillness?” Because that’s where it all begins and ends. God resides in these pockets of silence. So where in your day, where in your home, where in your mind, is there some opportunity for a moment of silence? Or maybe even a few moments, during which you can start asking the questions you need to ask in order to find what you need to learn. Can you find the time to get out of your own way and try to step into your own light? As a dear friend of mine put it: “To change your life, the important thing is not necessarily to travel; the important thing is to SHIFT.”

All we can do is shift our awareness to the people, creatures and plants who are affected by our actions, and those whose actions affect us. Connect to them, even just in our imaginations, and if we all pull together we will probably be OK, even if a disaster happens. Perhaps we will find a way to retain our humanity and not sink into wars over resources, which is what my over-active imagination tells me would happen.

And what really cheered me up was Elizabeth's link to Where the Hell is Matt? and his crazy dancing the world over! Making people laugh across the globe, that's gotta be a spiritual practice.

PS: If you have been wondering about my knitting, there is a post about that coming soon! It's all yoga, you know, just not the asana sort.